Critics Love Comparing ‘Spring Breakers’ to a Fever Dream

Critics Love Comparing 'Spring Breakers' to a Fever Dream

At Huffington Post, Christopher Rosen notices a curious trend in the reviews of Harmony Korine’s “Spring Breakers:” critic after critic after critic (after critic) are all using the same two words to describe the film: “fever dream.” All told, Rosen found 17 different articles about “Spring Breakers” that mention that phrase, including his own:

Do critics need to come up with some new material? Or is this a case where there really is just one perfect phrase that sums up a movie’s vibe? I don’t know. I do know I’m kind of surprised that I didn’t contribute to this phenomenon with my own review of the movie, despite the fact that I actually had a fever when I watched “Spring Breakers.”

Rocking and rolling on about eight DayQuils at South by Southwest, I could barely keep my shivering under control as I listened to James Franco talk about his nunchucks and dark tanning oil. Yet the phrase “fever dream” never entered my mind. Admittedly, the actual fever dreams I had that night (I vaguely recall one involving a remake of “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” starring the cast of “Charles in Charge”) didn’t much resemble “Spring Breakers”‘ DayGlo fantasia.

But that’s just me; maybe these seventeen other critics’ fever dreams do look like Korine’s spring break movie. By the way: the number of “Spring Breakers”‘ reviews that used the phrase “DayGlo fantasia?” Zero.